Half of his right to andrew rheude



(Nb Model.) zsh aw-sheet 1. A. SCHNEIDER. Magazine Fire Arm.

No. 228,560. Patented June 8,1880.

NFEI'ERS. PHOTO-UiI'IOGRAPKER WASHINGTON. D C,

(no Model.) zsneets-sheerz.

- A. SCHNEIDER.

Magazine Fire Arm.

No; 228,560. Patent ed June' 8,1880.

$142 ES Jf WL 99 I Inveval or aiw/dfim QWM N PEIERS. PHOTO-LITHDGRAPHER,WASHKNGTON. Dv C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALOIS SCHNEIDER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF OFHIS RIGHT TO ANDREW RHEUDE, OF SAME PLACE.

MAGAZINE SPECIFICATION .forming part of Letters FIRE-ARM.

Patent No. 228,560, dated June 8, 1880.

Application filed March 11, 1880. N model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALOIS SOHNELDER, of thecity and county of San Francisco and State of California, have inventedan Improved Breech-Loading Magazine Fire-Arm and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

My invention relates to certain improvements in breech-loading magazinefire-arms;

and it is especially adapted to be used in cases where the magazineextends beneath and parallel with the barrel of the arm.

In magazine-arms it is desirable, for various reasons, to use avertically-moving breechblock and carrier 5 but in an arm having suchconstruction, to make it successfully operative the breech-block mustpause in its travel regardless of the movement of its operating-leverwhile the cartridge is being forced forward into the barrel; otherwisethe breech block would press against the cartridge and bind it so itcould not be forced into the barrel.

My invention consists in a vertically-mov- 2 5 ing breech-block, incombination with an operating-lever proy'ided with means for giving theblock an intermittent movement, whereby the breech-block is made topause when opposite the barrel while the cartridge is forced 0 home, theoperatinglever moving continu ously.

My invention also consists in the employment of a vertically-slidingsolid breech-block having the lower front cut away to receive 3 5 thehead of the guard-lever, while the rear or vertical portion isperforated to receive actuating-pins, which project from the convex headof the guard-lever and which draw the block down when the lever ismoved.

4.0 The shell-extractor is operated from the head of this lever, and anarm from the opposite side of this head connects with the hammer andcocks the gun. i

A spring arm or plate upon the top or at 5 one side of the breech-blocktakes an inclined position when the block begins to move downward, andacts as a guide to the ejected shell, and the same device or devices actto prevent the fresh cartridge from being thrown out atter it leaves themagazine and before it enters the barrel.

The hammer is caused to rebound after striking and firing the cartridgeby a simple contrivance and without any spring.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for 5 5 a more completeexplanation of my invention and the details of construction, Figure l isan exterior view of my gun. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section,showing the side of the breech-block and link or arm for cocking thegun. Fig. 3 is a section showing the opposite side of the breech-blockand shell-extractor. Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 are detailed views of operatingparts of my gun. Fig. 8 is a top view of the gun. Fig. 9 is a transversesection through the breech.

A is the barrel of my gun, and B is the magazine, which I have shown inthe present case as extending beneath the barrel and opening into thespace in the frame behind the barrel, in which the breech-block works.

The breech-block C is a solid piece of metal, its upper part having alength sufficient to fill the space in the frame in which it moves, andthe rear portion extends downward to about an equal length. This leavesa space at the lower front portion, so that the block resembles a smallcarpenters square in outline, the under surface of the top portion beingslightly curved or arched, as shown, so as to admit the head D of theguard and operating-lever E.

A pin or screw passing through the lower part of this head serves tohold it in place in the frame, and also as afulcrum about which itmoves. The upper back portion of the head is curved about this pin as acenter, so as to form a segment nearly equal to one-quarter of a circle,and two pins, F F, project from the face of this curve. The rearvertical portion of the breech-block has holes or socketsG formed in itto correspond with the pins F, and it will be seen that when theguard-lever is thrown down these pins will successively enter theircorresponding holes and draw the breech-block down. The distance betweenthe 5 pins upon the head is, however, greater than the distance betweenthe holes into which they are to fall, so that when the first or lowestpin has moved the block down to the point where its upper surfaceis justbelow the opei'linginto I00 the barrel of the gun it will leave itshole, and the breech-block will remain stationary.

A further movement of the guard lever causes the head to rotate untilthe second or upper pin arrives at a point where it will enter its holein the block and finish the downward movement of the block. During thetime the block remains stationary the extractor H is thrown back toeject the shell by the continued movement of the headD. This is effectedby means of a pin, I, upon the side magazine upon the top of the block,which thus acts as a carrier.

A spring, K, upon the rear of the breechblock causes it to fit snugly,and holds it at the point in the frame where it is to remain motionless,so as to insure the proper fitting of the pins into their respectiveholes when the head has turned far enough to bring them to that point. Aspring-arm, L, within the side of the frame prevents the cartridge frombeing thrown out before it reaches the barrel, and by a slight change inform this same arm might be made to serve as a guide in ejecting theempty shell.

in the present easel have shown an arm, M, fitting into a slot or groovein the top of the breech block, and having its front end pivoted andactuated by a spring, so that its normal position is flush with the topof the block but as the breech-block commences to move down the rear endof this arm engages a spring-catch, N, which projects slightly from therear of the frame. This catch holds the rear end of the arm M so that asthe block continues to descend this arm assumes an inclined position,and when the breechblock has reached a point below the chamber of thebarrel and the extractor operates to throw the shell out the shell isguided by the arm M and thrown clear of the gun. When the breech-blockcontinues its movement downward the arm M is disengaged from the catch Nand falls into its groove, so as to be flush with the top of the blockagain.

The firing-pin 0 passes through the upper part of the breech-block, soas to stand in line between the hammer and the priming on thecartridgewhen the breech is closed, and it is actuated by a blow of the hammerwhen it falls, as is usual in such guns; but in my gun there are nointermediate pins or mechanism between the hammer and the firing-pin orthe firing-pin and cartridge.

The hammer Bis thrown back and the gun cocked when the lever is throwndown by the action of the arm Q. This arm has a pin at its end, whichengages with a hole in the side of the head D, and the opposite endpresses against a pin upon the side of the hammer above its center ofmotion, so that it will force the hammer back until it reaches fullcock. The return of the lever withdraws the arm Q, and leaves the hammerfree to fall.

The shellextractor H is moved by an arm which is situated within anarrow slot or chamber upon the opposite side of the space in the frame,separated from the breech-block by a thin plate in order to preventfriction between the two. This plate has a curved slot from its loweredge, through which the actuating-pin from the head D extends to movethe extractor-arm. The lower end of this arm has one edge above theprojection J notched in cam-shaped curves R, upon which the pin actswhen the breech-block is rising to force the extractor behind the rim ofthe shell after the latter is seated in the chamber of the barrel.

The extractor also acts as a carrier-arm to seat the cartridge in thechamber of the barrel after the breech-block has raised it to a pointopposite the chamber, as follows: When the breech-block has reached itslowest point its upper surface will be just below the level of themagazine, so that a cartridge will enter the space above thebreech-block.

The armor plate M, if situated, as in the present case, upon the top ofthe breech-block, will lie flush, and the spring-arm L projects justenough from the side of the breech-block chamber to prevent thecartridge from being thrown out.

The head H of the extractor is entirely in the rear of the chamber,having been thrown back to that point by the pin acting upon theshoulder J, as before described, and it is held there by a slightspring, S. Everything being in this position the lever E is drawn back,and the upper pin upon its head will raise the breech-block until thecartridge is opposite the barrel. This pin now becomes disengaged fromthe breech-block, and the continued motion of the lever rotates the head1), and by the action of the pin upon the projection J the head H of theextractor is thrown forward, and thus seats the cartridge in the barrel.The second pin F then engages its hole in the breech-block, and thelatter continues its upward movement. As it does so it strikes the edgeof the head H and forces it to one side in an appropriate depression, soas to allow it to pass the rim of the cartridge. At the same time thepin on the lever -head strikes the curve It upon the back of theextractor-arm, and thus forces the head H beyond the rim, where it isallowed to spring out into position to retract the shell when the leveris again thrown down.

A small projection, T, at the lower front edge of the breech-blockprevents the cartridges from being forced out of the magazine into thespace below the breech-block when closed, but at the same time allowsthe magazine to be charged through the rear end by pressing them inthrough a spring-plate opening at U. To enable this plate to be pressedinward to admit the cartridges when the lever E is up and the breechclosed, the top of the lever-head is filed off from one side at X, sothat the space between it and the upper part of the breech-block issufficient to admit the plate to be pressed back; but the curve of thehead will prevent the plate from being pressed back at any other time.To allow the top of the head to be filed off, as described, withoutinterfering with the upper pin F the latter is set over to one side ashort distance.

The hammer is actuated by a mainspriug, V, which is secured to the framebehind the hammer, and its front end is connected with the hammer by alink. In order to make what is known as a rebounding lock, and returnthe hammer to the safety-notch, so that it will not rest upon thefiring-pin after it falls, a pin, W, extends across the frame at a pointwhere the end of the mainsprin g will just strike it as the hammerreaches the point opposite the safety-notch of the tumbler. This causesthe hammer to strike the firing-pin by its momentnm, and the recoil willbring it back into the safety-notch, as the spring does not follow itall the way down.

It will be seen that this gun may be used as a si n glebreech-loader, and the barrel charged directly without using the magazine, by simplythrowing the breech-block half-way down. This ejects the empty shell,throws the extractor back, but does not uncover the magazine. Thecartridge may be introduced from the top after each discharge withoutusing those in the magazine.

The rear of the frame is grooved out, so that when the breech-block isdown this groove is in line with the barrel, and the interior may beinspected and cleaned from the rear.

This construction enables me to place the spring-catch N so low that thearm M is not raised from its seat in the breech-block until the latterhas been depressed below the bore of the gun. This allows the cartridgeto be thrown out with certainty every time, which would not be the caseif the standing breech or rear of the frame were carried up to the fullheight.

This construction also enables me to load -the gun from the rear inusing it as a single breech-loader without making the breech-blockchamber longer than the cartridge, which could not otherwise be done.

I am aware that single breech-loading guns having a sliding breech-blockhave been made with the standing breech cut away to admit of theintroduction of the cartridges but I am not aware that any magazine-armhas been thus constructed, and I claim that this construction enables meto use the gun as a repeater or single breech-loader at will withoutunduly lengthening the frame.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The lever E, with its curved head D, having projecting lugs F,adapted to raise or depress the breech-block by engaging correspondingholes in said block, the space between the lugs being greater than thatbetween the holes, so that the movement of the breechblock shall be madeintermittently, substantially as herein described.

2. The shell-extractor H, swinging in a slot at one side of thebreech-block chamber and having the arm formed with the projection J andcurved outline R, consisting of two curves struck from differentcenters, in combination with the pin I, upon the head of the lever,whereby the extractor is caused to swing forward by an intermittentmovement, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

3. The vibrating extractor H and lever-head D and pin I, in combinationwith the verticallymoving breech-block 0, provided with a hous inghaving a recess, h, adjacent to the end of the barrel, whereby theoperation of the breech block passes the extractor around the rim of thecartridge, substantially as set forth.

at. The diagonally-arranged spring arm L, fitted into the side of thebreech-block chamher and one end secured between the chamber and thebarrel, so that it prevents the rising cartridge from being thrown out,the said spring being pressed back into its seat by the upward movementof the breech-block.

5. I11 a magazine firearm, a vertically-mow ing breech-block, incombination withan operating-lever provided with means, substan tiallyas described, by which the breech-block in its upward movement is madeto pause in a line with the barrel, while the lever continues to move,for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ALOIS SCHNEIDER.

Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, FRANK A. BROOKS.

